"Holy crap." A small woman muttered, staring at the decrepit house in front of her. The shingles from the roof were falling off and the paint on the wood chipping away. The stairs had a gaping hole in them and weeds littered the front lawn. This place had definitely gotten worse since the last time she saw it.

"Jeez. Grandma wasn't kidding when she said this place could use some work." The lady said to herself, cautiously pushing a rusty key into the key hole. The door creaked up, revealing a dusty old house with wall paper practically peeling off. The bed looked moldy and the floor was soaking wet, probably from the rain from last night. Okay, so this place could use a lot of work.

"Molly! Molly Novette!" A voice called out from behind her. A short, plump man with gray hair walked in behind her, a big smile on his face. It was almost as if he didn't see the condition the house was in.

"So, as you can see, the house needs... a lot of work. So I've taken the liberty of booking you a night at The Ocarina Inn, free of charge of course." the man, otherwise known as the Mayor, said. Molly breathed a sigh of relief and gave the short man a small smile.

"Thank you very much. I'm sure I could start working on this house tomorrow evening. I'm really tired right now." Molly said. As if on cue, a yawn escaped her lips.

"Perfectly understandable! You do know where The Ocarina Inn is right? Hasn't been that long after all." The Mayor laughed.

"Yes of course. Well, I'm going to get going. Good evening Mr. Hamilton!" Molly said, bowing as she picked up her suitcase.

A year ago, her grandmother had died, leaving her with the deed to her farm, Blue Ranch. She'd expected the place to be run down but she hadn't expected it to be in this condition. It was deplorable. There wasn't any way any one could live safely in that house. Sighing, she watched as the Harmonica Town came into view. If there was anything she remembered about this place, it was how long it took to get from Point A to Point B. Trudging her suitcase, she walked quickly across the stone bridge. It was getting late after all, and she was exhausted. Not to mention all the work that needed to be done tomorrow. It was disheartening just to think about it. Finally, Molly made it to the Inn. She opened the door quickly and rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Molly Novette!" A petite girl in a bouncy pink dress said. She has braids coming out of her blonde hair and her porcelain skin had not one scratch in it.

"And if it isn't Maya Cowalski!" Molly replied, dropping her bags. Forgetting about how tired she was at the moment, Molly ran to give the small girl a hug. It'd been ages since they last talked. It was almost funny how this town picked up the pace right where you left off.

"So, how was the Big City treating you?" Maya said, pulling a chair out for her.

"It's good! Crowded, hard to breath and faster, but I liked it quite a lot." Molly said. It'd been six years since she last visited the island. After that she moved to the City with her mother.

"Sorry to hear bout your Grandma. Wonderful lady." Maya said solemnly. Molly waved it off.

"It's okay. It's been a year after all. So how's Castanet doing anyway?" Maya sighed and looked down.

"Not too good...the fires haven't been burning, the ground hasn't been producing anything and the waters are too rough to sail on. We're not getting any business." Maya said seriously. Molly couldn't believe her ears. All this in the amount of time she was gone? Was that even possible?

"Personally, I think it's because the Goddess Tree is dying, but...no one wants to believe that. They think The Harvest Goddess is just an old wives tale." Maya sighed. The Goddess Tree dying? A lot of things sure have changed since she was last here. Before she could add her two cents in, however, the door opened and in entered a young fellow with hair the color of a peach. Wispy pieces of his hair were pinned back with hair clips, and he worse a navy blue apron. A scowl was etched on his face and he entered without saying hello to anybody. Just who exactly was this man?

"That's Chase." Maya whispered to Molly.

"Is he always...?"

"In a bad mood? Yes. I think you should go say hello to him though. It's only nice." Maya shrugged. Sighing and not really wanting to, Molly got up from her comfortable seat at the table and walked to the counter where Chase was cleaning up. He slowly lifted his head up, the same annoyed scowl on his face.

"Hello! My name's Molly Novette! I'm a new Rancher! It's very nice to meet you!" she said pleasantly, extending her hand. He looked at her hand as if it were the most disgusting thing in the world and continued cleaning.

"And I care...?" An annoyed look crossed Molly's face.

"Well...I like your hair clips. They're...nice looking?" Molly said, trying not to insult the man. Chase flashed her a sarcastic smile before the scowl returned to his face.

"Don't you have a ranch to tend to?"

"I'm staying here for the night...my house kind of isn't ready to move into." Molly replied.

"Oh, that's just great." Chase said sarcastically. As she was a bit of a bit of a hot head, Molly rolled her eyes, feeling her face get red.

"Well, it was nice meeting you." Molly said civilly.

"I'm sad to say I can't say the same." Chase replied curtly, now looking away from her. Taking a deep breath in to calm herself, Molly turned around and headed toward the stairs.

"See ya in the morning Maya! Are you going to help me out with the house tomorrow?" Molly said, dragging her suitcase up the stairs.

"Of course! Good night Molly!" The blonde haired girl said, smiling at her.

()()()()()()

Sunlight seeped into the Inn room that Molly was sleeping in. The light made her hair appear more chestnut-y and warmed her body up. A rapid knocking on the door woke her up from her dream, which was rather pleasant. Sad to be woken up so abruptly, Molly sighed and jumped out of bed.

"I'm coming, calm down!" she said, as the person at the door was still knocking.

"Well get out of bed faster." a stark voice returned. Oh god him again.

"On second thought, I think I'll just stay here for a little while." Molly replied sharply.

"Whatever. Maya told me to wake up you up." Chase said, frustration clear in his voice. Sighing, Molly trifled through her suitcase and pulled out an outfit. Quickly slipping on her work boots, she opened the door to see that the blonde man was still waiting by the room.

"Took you long enough." he said under his breath. Rolling her eyes, the brunette woman walked in front of him and down to the dining area, where Maya was cleaning a table. When she saw Molly she smiled and dropped the cloth in her hand.

"Great! You're up! So we're ready to go! Chase, you're going to cover my shift okay?" Maya said. Flabbergasted and angry, Chase searched for words to say, only managing to come up with a weak "No!."

"Thanks! Love you too! Bye Chase!" Maya said, quickly whisking Molly out of the Inn door. Giggling, the blonde girl smiled at Molly. Molly giggled along with her and the two girls headed in the direction of Blue Ranch.

"So Chase is...quite the character." the brunette woman said, struggling to find words to describe him.

"He can be nice. You just met him, that's all." Maya replied sympathetically. Soon enough the two arrived at The Ranch. It was in the same mess that it was yesterday, if not worse. Winds from that night had carried away some of the flowers that were growing on the ranch and more singles had blown off of the roof. Taking a deep breath in, Molly sighed.

"We can do this. It'll take a little work, but we can do this." she said, mostly to herself.

"That's the spirit, I'll start cleaning in the house and you'll start on the weeds, okay?" Maya said, heading toward the broken down home.

"Sounds like a plan."

()()()()()()

It was only twelve o'clock and the two girls were exhausted. Molly's hands were nearly raw and her back hurt from having to bend up and painstakingly pick all the weeds by herself. Maya's dress was covered in dirt and filth. Cleaning the house proved harder than it looked. However, the Ranch was in a better state than it was before, managing to look presentable. The rows of flowers that still stayed intact after the wind looked pretty and she'd managed to get rid of most of the weeds. The house's floor was cleaned up and the dirt all gone. The bed was now clean and the walls bleach and wiped down. Someone from the Carpenter's would be coming to fix the roof later on. Happy to see her house is a livable condition, Molly smiled to Maya.

"This place looks soo much better. Thanks so much Maya!" Molly said. The two were sitting in lawn chairs on the porch. Despite the hole in rotting wood, they found it comfortable to sit outside than inside the safety of her house. Before anyone could saying anything more, the blond man from the Inn came into view of the girls. He was holding a Styrofoam box and had to bottles of liquid in his hands. He had a pissed off look on his face and Molly could see him glaring at her from the distance.

"Yeah. Sure he's nice." the brunette woman said sarcastically. Maya pursed her lips and tried to smile.

"I'm sure it's just the heat that's getting to him." she said, trying to come up with excuses for the young man. Soon Chase hobbled his way to the porch, holding the box of food in his hand.

"Special delivery for Miss Novette." he said bitterly, handing Molly the box as he glared at her.

"Uh...thanks I guess." Molly said, trying to avoid his stare.

"My pleasure." he said sarcastically. With that, he turned around and headed in the direction of his house, which was located in Flute Fields. Maya and Molly sat in silence for a second, before someone finally spoke.

"Yup. Definitely the heat." Molly said flatly. Maya gulped.

"Hey, shouldn't Luke and Bo be here already? It's been 3 hours since we called them." Maya said, suddenly changing the subject. She was right. They should have been here already.

"Yeah. Maybe we should head over to Dale's and see what's going on." Molly said, standing up.

"Oh, aren't we going to eat that?" Maya said, pointing to the box.

"Well, we can eat it later. No sense in doing that now considering how far away Dale's is." Molly shrugged.

"Oh, well why don't we take it with us? We can eat it on the way." Maya suggested, dusting her dress off.

"Well...alright I guess." the brunette woman said. The two woman took off, heading in the direction of Garmon Mines. Although it had been a while since she was last here, Molly could remember perfectly where everything was.

"Hey, what's going on there?" Maya said, pointing to an exasperated Bo. The young boy turned around and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, the uh, the bridge is out."